The invention relates to digital data processing and more particularly, by way of non-limiting example, to the automated generation of content that is customized to individual reader behaviors. The invention has application, by way of non-limiting example, in the automated generation of customized emails, e.g., as part of marketing and sales email campaigns.
Email campaigns are the bread and butter of modern digital marketing and are often the most important element of the marketing mix of companies. According to the research firm Forrester, email may drive more than 30% of revenues from repeat customers for retail/e-commerce companies.
Most marketing emails have what is referred to in the industry as “calls to action.” These often take the form of clickable buttons or hyperlinks. When the email recipient clicks on these, they are taken to the website of the sender of the email where they can learn more about the news or offerings featured in the email (and make a purchase, in the case of e-commerce). Designing emails so as to maximize the number of click-throughs is therefore an important business objective for email marketers.
Two types of content take up significant real estate in marketing emails, depending on the type of company that send them:                Product/Offer recommendations (used heavily by retail/e commerce/travel/hospitality companies        News article recommendations (used heavily by media companies)        
These are popular and heavily used by marketers since they represent natural calls to action and because there is a vast and ever-changing set to choose from (enabling the marketer to use them frequently without repeating the same content).
The decisions made by email marketers in choosing this content has a major impact on click-throughs and consequently the revenue performance of the business. So, how do marketers make this decision?
The majority of marketers follow a “top popular items” approach. They select the top selling products and the most recent news stories and feature them in the email. While this is not a bad approach, it has a significant shortcoming. It is one size fits all. It assumes that what makes one recipient click-through is the same factor that will make another recipient to click-through.
In response to this shortcoming, other marketers (a small minority) choose products/news articles that are similar to what each recipient has bought/read in the past. This is vastly superior to the blast the same email to everyone approach but suffers from a very significant issue as well.
Like any digital medium, email has its own idiosyncratic characteristics. The way users interact with email is different from the way they interact with a physical store or newspaper and different from the way they interact with a website.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the invention is to provide improved methods and apparatus for digital data processing and more particularly, by way of non-limiting example, for the automated generation of customized digital content.
A further object of the invention is to provide such methods and apparatus as are suited for the automated generation of customized emails, e.g., as part of marketing and sales email campaigns.
A further related aspect of the invention is to provide such methods and apparatus as are suited for the generation of emails that are personalized for each recipient.
These and other objects of the invention are evident in the drawings and in the discussion that follows.